Optimized reservation for multi-session and/or multi-unit types   

The present invention relates to the field of communication, and in particular to optimised charging for multi-session and/or multi-unit type communication.

BACKGROUND ART

Telecommunication operators today use a charging system to determine the charge to their subscribers which use their services, e.g., circuit switched voice, SMS, MMS and/or GPRS. The subscribers often have either a prepaid option or a postpaid option which they use to pay for a particular service. If a subscriber uses the postpaid option, s/he pays for a service after it has been used, e.g., once a month. If a subscriber uses the prepaid option, then s/he pays before the usage of a service. Both payment options can use real time charging also referred to as credit control, wherein the charging is executed during ongoing service delivery. The postpaid option also supports non-real time charging, wherein the charging executed after service delivery.

Therefore, during a charging session at least one calculation run based on service usage is performed by the charging system. E.g., the charging system determines the charge for a service according to the duration of the service, the time of service usage, use of a promotion campaigns etc.

As is explained in WO 2003/3032657, real time charging of service delivery relies on a reservation of funds corresponding to an invoked service in order for the invoked service to be allowed to execute. When the granted reservation of funds is used up by the service the service reports back, and its used funds are removed from an account and any excess amount of the reservation is put back on the account. If continued execution of the service is required a new reservation is made for the service.

However, in the known charging system there is no way to optimize the distribution of available funds between simultaneous services, services that are listed in one and the same request for reservation or parallel services not emanating from the same reservation request. Further there is no optimization with respect to different service types also referred to as unit types in the following, e.g., service usage time, total data volume, downlink data volume, uplink data volume, event like SMS or MMS, etc.

SUMMARY

In view of the above the technical problem of the present invention is provide optimised real-time charging for simultaneous services.

According to the present invention this object is achieved by a method of executing a real-time charging session in a charging system being interfaced to at least one communication network. The method comprises a step of initiating a fund reservation with respect to at least two services and/or at least two service types used for a single service. Subsequent hereto there is executed a step to reserve funds for service delivery to the at least two services and/or for the at least two service types such that deviations between predicted fund use-up times are minimized.

An advantage of the present invention is that fund reservation may be initiated for a multi-session and/or multi-type communication such that it is possible to optimise the fund resources considering various services and related service types in parallel.

Another advantage of the present invention is a reduction in signalling traffic. As fund resources are reserved the predicted fund use-up times deviation is minimized, related feedback from charged services occurs essentially at the same time. Considering multi-session or multi-type service communication, then the feedback from involved services may be given in a single message leading to significant reduced signalling overhead.

The same advantage arises also in other cases where all service usage is always reported in one operation, the difference being that with poorly optimized charging the signaling of this one operation has to occur more frequently. It should be noted that if the control is done in different nodes several messages are needed to make the reservation optimization, i.e. one or more independent messages per node. In this case a received message would force the charging system to send a message to all other nodes controlling service usage from this account asking to immediately request the service usage so far so that deduct of service usage and a new optimized reservation may be made. In more detail, this is to settle the old reservation and remake the reservation for all involved nodes/sessions. This operation from the charging system to request back the usage is introduced, e.g., in Diameter DCC according to IETF RFC 4006.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention it is suggested to arrange services before fund reservation according to a prerequisite succession for service delivery. Here, the prerequisite succession defines at least one pre-requisite service, if any, that needs to be provided prior to at least one higher succession invoking service, and further at least one higher succession invoking service.

Therefore, the present invention enables optimisation of fund resources when available funds do not satisfy preferred service needs, either due to a shortage of funds in view of a low account or when funds for multi-session or multi-type service communication have a cap imposed thereon. In other words, should available funds not be enough to satisfy all service needs, then higher prioritized services/service types would be awarded funds first and only then would funds be allocated to services/service types having lower priority.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention it is suggested to differentiate between preferred and minimum funds with respect to different services and service types.

This preferred embodiment of the present invention is of particular benefit at fund shortage, to satisfy each fund request as far as possible. In more detail, the differentiation between preferred and minimum funds allows for a splitting of funds that is still meaningful when available funds do not cover the preferred amounts for different services and service types. Also, only funds that allow to start or to continue a service and related service type(s) will be reserved which also contributes significantly to the reduction of signalling traffic.

Further preferred embodiment of the present invention are related to the splitting of funds between at least one pre-requisite service, if any, and the at least one higher succession invoking service and according to related service type(s) on the basis of a pre-determined fund splitting optimisation approach when the sum of the amount of the first preferred funds and the amount of the second preferred funds is higher than an overall available fund. Here, the splitting of funds may be achieved either at the start of a charging session or during an ongoing charging session for fund re-authorization.

A first option supported by the present invention, suited to the start of a charging session, is to execute the pre-determined fund splitting optimisation using pre-registered information on the amount of preferred funds and minimum funds with respect to each involved service and related service type(s). Here it is also possible to consider a plurality of pre-known combinations of services and related service type(s).

This option may be implemented in an efficient manner either a static version where the pre-registered information remains unchanged over time or as a semi-static version where the pre-registered information may be re-configured. This supports a trade off between ease of implementation versus flexibility.

A second option supported by the present invention is to execute the pre-determined fund splitting optimisation with respect to a pre-known combination of services and related service type(s). Here, it is possible to use a splitting mechanism integrated into a rating service activated by the charging system.

The second option is of advantage when the rating of services is differentiated, i.e. when the services are not combined in logic. According to the present invention it is suggested to run the rating of service combinations in parallel in substitution for a sequential rating of these services which leads to again to advantages when an available amount of funds do not satisfy all fund requirements of different services.

A third option supported by the present invention is to execute the pre-determined fund splitting optimisation in an adaptive manner on the basis of historical use data reflecting prior usage with respect to each involved service and related service type(s). This option may also be applied to a service combination or a plurality of service combinations.

The third option is of particular benefit when characteristics of service usage change over time. Further, the present invention overcomes the restricted viewpoint that when all services and service types get their preferred funds reserved, then no more optimization would be necessary. To the contrary, considering a plurality of services and/or a plurality of service combinations avoids a situation where one reservation request blocks other fund requests by triggering a reservation of all funds available on an account.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a computer program product directly loadable into the internal memory of a charging apparatus comprising software code portions for performing the inventive charging process when the product is run on a processor of the charging apparatus.

Therefore, the present invention is also provided to achieve an implementation of the inventive method steps on computer or processor systems. In conclusion, such implementation leads to the provision of computer program products for use with a computer system or more specifically a processor comprised in, e.g., a charging apparatus.

This programs defining the functions of the present invention can be delivered to a computer/processor in many forms, including, but not limited to information permanently stored on non-writable storage media, e.g., read only memory devices such as ROM or CD ROM discs readable by processors or computer I/O attachments; information stored on writable storage media, i.e. floppy discs and hard drives; or information convey to a computer/processor through communication media such as network and/or Internet and/or telephone networks via modems or other interface devices. It should be understood that such media, when carrying processor readable instructions implementing the inventive concept represent alternate embodiments of the present invention.

In the following there will be described the best mode as well as preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example of use of a charging system being interfaced to different communication environments for non-binding explanation of the operational context of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the charging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of operation for the charging unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a detailed diagram of the charging unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of operation for the charging unit shown in FIG. 4 at start of a charging session;

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of operation for the charging unit shown in FIG. 4 at continuation of a charging session for fund re-authorization;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a rating tree and related selection logic used in a rating service;

FIG. 8 shows a rating tree and related selection logic according to the present invention allowing for an integration of a splitting mechanism into the rating service;

FIG. 9 shows a rating tree and related selection logic according to the present invention allowing for a combined charging in the rating service;

FIG. 10 shows a first option for service usage feedback according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 shows a second option for service usage feedback according to the present invention; and

FIG. 12 shows a third option for service usage feedback according to the present invention.

In the following, the best mode of carrying out the invention as well as preferred embodiments thereof will be described through reference to the drawing. Here, insofar as different functionalities of the present invention are described, it should be clear that such functionality may be achieved either in hardware, in software, or through a combination thereof.

FIG. 1 shows an example of use of a charging apparatus or system being interfaced to different communication environments for non-binding explanation of the operational context of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, according to the present invention a charging apparatus 10 may be interfaced to a plurality communication networks 12, 14, 16, 18. The charging system 10 shown in FIG. 1 is interfaced to a GSM mobile communications network 12, a public switched telecommunications network PSTN 14, a GPRS mobile communications network 16, and the Internet 18. Generally, the charging system 10 needs to access and monitor the subscribers of these communication networks 12, 14, 16, 18. Examples of different access methods are described next.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the charging apparatus 10 accesses a subscriber via a portable radio communication unit 20, then the invocation is performed via a service control point SCP 22 which is connected to a service switching point SSP 24. The service switching point SSP 24 is connected to a mobile switching center/gateway mobile services switching center MSC/GMSC 26 which support the portable radio communication unit 20.

It should be noted that the term portable radio communication unit which is referred hereinafter also as mobile phone includes all equipment such as pagers, communicators, i.e. electronic organizers, smart phones or the like. The mobile switching center/gateway mobile services switching center MSC/GMSC 26 provides specific data about individual mobile phones 20 and operates as an interface towards other networks such as an integrated services digital network ISDN, another public land mobile network PLMN, e.g., the GPRS mobile communications network 16, or the public switched telecommunications network PSTN 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the charging apparatus 10 applies cost control of a subscriber accessing service via a fixed telephone 28, then the invocation is performed via the service control point SCP 22 which is connected to the service switching point SSP 24. The service switching point is connected to a local exchange LE 30 which supports the fixed telephone 28.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the charging apparatus 10 applies cost control of a subscriber accessing service via a mobile phone 32 with GPRS capabilities, then the invocation is performed via the service control point SCP 22 which is connected to a gateway support node GSN 22.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the charging apparatus 10 applies cost control of a subscriber accessing service via a data terminal 36 which is communicating with a content server CS 38, then the invocation is performed via a TCP/IP Internet network 40 that is connected to a network access server NAS 42. A mobile phone (not shown) accessing the content server CS 38 on the Internet 40 would operate in the same way as the data terminal 36, except that the gateway support node GSN 34 would replace the network access server NAS 42.

Further, the present invention is, e.g., also applicable to flow based charging FBC according to 3GPP TS23.125, with real time charging and credit control over several services simultaneous for one account/subscriber, possibly measuring usage in several service types, also referred to as units types, even within one service. Here, a request for fund reservation from an end terminal side or a usage report could include all these services and measured service types which may then be used as outlined in the following description of the present invention.

Further, another example for application of the present invention is fund reservation in a real time charging environment where a request for fund reservation is received at the charging apparatus from an node for a single account/subscriber, e.g., via Diameter Credit Control DCC according to IETF RFC 4006. The request for fund reservation may be related to several services that in turn could be measured on one or several service types. These services and service types may have different fund reservation needs to start or continue the execution of the service, possibly with a relation between the components of the request. E.g., this relation could be that one service, e.g., e-mail could require that the bearer service also get a reservation allowed in order to execute. Other examples include a combined picture sharing and talk service where the service need to reserve unit types both for time, e.g., talk, and data volume, e.g., picture sharing, in order to be executed.

Further, another example for application of the present invention is fund reservation in a real time charging environment for FBC and the Internet Protocol Multimedia Sub-System IMS.

For flow based charging FBC the invention applies since the supervising/controlling node, which could be a “black box” on the Gi interface or an application in the GPRS gateway supporting node GGSN, reports the usage for all services for one user in one report. In this situation several services will compete for resources when the account is low. In other solutions there may be no requirement to report all usage in one report but when there are competition of the funds, e.g., a Diameter server, could ask for re-authorization of all funds and redistribute them over the services. This re-authorization mechanism applies to all Diameter users and thus to all scenarios where the Diameter server or in other words the charging apparatus wants to redistribute the available resources.

For the Internet Protocol Multimedia Sub-System IMS the situation is similar but in addition to be able to use several services simultaneously, several components might be involved in the execution of one service and might independently invoke the charging apparatus according to the present invention. The charging apparatus can identify the situation and know which invocations to expect before making any reservations or might correlate the reservations after waiting a moment, then make the reservation. Correlation is rather resource consuming which can make it better to approach the problem by handing out initial uncoordinated reservations and then using the Diameter feature for re-authorization and rearranging the funds if needed, as the Internet Protocol Multimedia Sub-System IMS is also using Diameter Charging Control DCC for real-time charging.

Further, another example for application of the present invention are multiple-user accounts, i.e. several users have access to one account value simultaneously. Even if Diameter Charging Control DCC was outlined above, there may other online protocols that support re-authorization.

Further, for the exchange of fund requests the charging environment may offer an access protocol that can handle all services/service types units in question with one fund request processing step, e.g. as in Diameter Credit Control DCC already outlined above, an access protocol that has the capability to coordinate the requests via sessions, e.g., according to Customised Applications for Mobile Networks Enhanced Logic CAMEL Application Part CAP, see 3GPP TS 29.078, and/or access protocols with uncoordinated services that need to be coordinated within the charging apparatus or before invocation of the fund reservation. By optimising the reservations for each service and service type the number of reservation requests and invocations of the charging apparatus will be minimized, as will be explained in detail in the following.

It should be noted that the different charging apparatus access scenarios and the further application scenarios outlined above are illustrative only and have no restricting effect on the scope of the present invention as explained in the following. Also, a detailed description of the communication networks 12, 14, 16, 18 is not provided here since their functions and components are known to the person skilled in the art.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the charging apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the charging apparatus according to the present invention comprises a service prioritization unit 44, an initiation unit 46, and a charging unit 48. It should be noted that the service prioritization unit 44 and related operation may be optional.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of operation for the charging unit shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, operatively the service prioritization unit 44 executes a step S10 to arrange services before fund reservation according to a prerequisite succession for service delivery. Here, the prerequisite succession defines at least one pre-requisite service, if any, that needs to be provided prior to at least one higher succession invoking service. Further prerequisite succession defines at least one higher succession invoking service.

As shown in FIG. 3, operatively the initiation unit 44 executes a step S12 to initiate a fund reservation with respect to at least two services and/or at least two service types used for a single service. Here, the initiation unit 46 may execute the step S12 at a start of a charging session. As an alternative, the initiation unit 46 may execute the step S12 during an ongoing charging session for fund re-authorization with respect to different services and/or different service types.

As shown in FIG. 3, operatively the charging unit 46 executes a step S14 to reserve funds for service delivery to the at least two services and/or for the at least two service types such that deviations between predicted fund use-up times are minimized. Also, operatively the charging unit 46 will continuously interrogate whether a new request for fund reservation has been submitted to the charging apparatus 10 either at start of a charging session or during an ongoing charging session.

FIG. 4 shows a detailed diagram of the charging unit shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the charging unit 48 comprises a preferred fund identifying unit 50, a minimum fund reservation unit 52, a fund comparison unit 54, a reservation unit 56, and a fund splitting unit 58.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of operation for the charging unit shown in FIG. 4 at start of a charging session.

As shown in FIG. 5, operatively the preferred fund reservation unit 50 executes a step S16 to identify an amount of at least one first preferred fund for the at least one pre-requisite service, if any, in view pre-established knowledge on service characteristics of the at least one pre-requisite service. Also, operatively the preferred fund reservation unit 50 executes a step S18 to identify an amount of at least one second preferred fund for the at least one higher succession invoking service in view pre-established knowledge on service characteristics of the at least one higher succession invoking service.

As shown in FIG. 5, operatively the fund comparison unit 54 executes a step S20 to compare a sum of the amount of the at least one first preferred fund and the amount of the at least one second preferred fund against an overall available fund.

As shown in FIG. 5, operatively the fund reservation unit 56 executes a step S22 to reserve the at least one first preferred fund for the at least one pre-requisite service, if any, and to reserve at least one second preferred fund for the at least one higher succession invoking service when the sum of the amount of the at least one first preferred fund and the amount of the at least one second preferred fund is lower or equal than the overall available fund.

As shown in FIG. 5, operatively the fund splitting unit 58 executes a step S24 to split funds between at least one pre-requisite service, if any, and the at least one higher succession invoking service and according to related service type(s) using a pre-determined fund splitting optimisation when the sum of the amount of the at least one first preferred fund and the amount of the at least one second preferred fund is higher than an overall available fund.

As shown in FIG. 5, operatively the minimum fund identifying unit 52 executes a step S26 to identify an amount of at least one first minimum fund for the at least one pre-requisite service, if any, in view of pre-established knowledge on service characteristics of the at least one pre-requisite service. Also, operatively the minimum fund identifying unit 52 executes a step S28 to identify an amount of at least one second minimum fund for the at least one higher order invoking service in view pre-established knowledge on service characteristics of the at least one higher order invoking service;

As shown in FIG. 5, operatively the fund comparison unit 54 executes a step S30 to compare the amount of the at least one first minimum fund and the amount of the at least one second minimum fund against the generated fund splitting result.

As shown in FIG. 5, operatively the Fund reservation unit 56 will execute a step S32 to reserve the at least one first minimum fund for the at least one pre-requisite service, if any, and the step of reserving the at least one second minimum fund for the at least one higher succession invoking service when the generated fund splitting result covers the amount of the at least one first minimum fund and the amount of the at least one second minimum fund. Otherwise, the fund reservation unit 56 will execute a step S34 to reject the request for fund reservation.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of operation for the charging unit shown in FIG. 4 at continuation of a charging session for fund re-authorization.

As shown in FIG. 6, operatively the initialization unit 46 of the charging apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will execute a sequence of steps S16, S18, S36 to support the reservation of all running services. Here, steps S16 and S18 are similar to those explained above with respect to FIG. 5 and related explanation will not be repeated here.

Further, step S36 is executed to check that all running services are considered and to loop back, if this should not be the case. It should be noted that all running services are walked through, not only the service(s) with highest priority. Also, it might be that running services are not a pre-requisite for each other.

An example being related to the execution of step S36 is RAR as an operation initiated by a DCC server to immediately ask its clients to report their service usage and return their granted funds so that the server can, e.g., redistribute the resources/funds and possibly send out new grant of funds to the clients. In such a situation the start of session scenario would be applicable.

Otherwise, a situation where this loop according to step S36 is important is, e.g., non-RAR, such as CAMEL where the charging server, e.g. a Service Control Point SCP, conventionally has to wait until the original condition, e.g., granted time or granted data volume, has been fulfilled/used up. However, according to the present invention all services, e.g., 64 services may be surveilled by flow based control FBC through a report in one operation. Of all services same may relate to each other, i.e. have a pre-requisite relation established, while other may be totally independent. The execution of step S36 and the related loop mechanism secures that all reported services are checked and not only a single service.

In conclusion, what is important to note with respect to step S36 is that for every reported services related pre-requisite service are checked. Funds are initially reserved for these pre-requisite services are reserved prior to fund reservation for the service under consideration.

Further, it may be that all reported services do not have a prerequisite service. Also then they must be checked according to step S36 prior to execution of step S20 since the funds should potentially be split among them afterwards.

Further, with respect to the explanations of FIGS. 5 and 6 it should be supplemented that in particular steps S24 to S28 may be iterated to avoid rejection of a fund reservation request at the start of a charging session or at fund reservation re-authorization.

While above aspects of fund splitting and pre-determined fund splitting optimisation have described in general, in the following examples of fund splitting algorithms will be explained in more detail.

A first option to operate the fund splitting unit 58, to execute step S24 shown in FIG. 5, is to use pre-registered information on the amount of preferred funds and minimum funds with respect to each involved service and related service type (s).

A second option to operate the fund splitting unit 58, to execute step S24 shown in FIG. 5, is to consider a plurality of pre-known combinations of services and related service type(s) and to use information on the amount of preferred funds and minimum funds with respect to all involved service and related service type(s).

A third option to operate the fund splitting unit 58, to execute step S24 shown in FIG. 5, is to execute the pre-determined fund splitting optimisation in an adaptive manner on the basis of historical use data reflecting prior usage with respect to each involved service and related service type (s).

Here, a first way to realize the third option is that the historical use of each service and related service type(s) is analysed against the historical use of each other service and related service type(s) for balanced fund reservation adaptation.

Heretofore, in the adaptive solution the usage of the previous reservation is feed back to the reservation process. A typical fund splitting algorithm that depends on the historical data is as follows:

UsageChange:= Cost used by A/Cost assigned to A last − Cost used by B/Cost assigned to B last; // Inititial values could be fetched from service data. if (UsageChange > 0.1) { %-age for A:= ROUND_UP(1+UsageChange)*%-age for A last; %-age for B:=100 − %-age for A; } Else if (Usage Change<−0.1) { %-age for B:= ROUND_UP(1+UsageChange)*%-age for B last; %-age for A:=100 − %-age for B; } /* Else keep split factor */

This fund splitting algorithm uses a hysteresis function that regulates only if the fault in the last prediction is more than 10%. If it is, it will try to even the amount split between the two different services in a quick adaptation. If less amplification is wanted a constant could be introduced to reduce the speed of change.

It should be noted that this fund splitting algorithm could be used within the services as well. Also, more complex fund splitting algorithms that look forward and adapt to future rate changes are possible to further increase the prediction exactness.

Further, in the above example the %-age for each service has to be applied to the remaining units and there has to be a check if the remaining fund will provide the minimum amount of units that a service requests to be able to execute.

Further steps, if the minimum amount is not provided, include to exclude the lowest prioritized services that is not prerequisite for services with higher priority and to distribute the %-age or funds for these services to the other services. The minimum amounts are rechecked and possibly more services are to be excluded.

While above a first way to realize the third option of fund splitting has been described, a second way to realize the third option of fund splitting is to consider a service combination or a plurality of service combinations on the basis of historical use data reflecting prior usage of the service combination or the plurality of service combinations.

A fund splitting algorithm for the second way to realize the third option of fund splitting is as follows:

UsedAveragej:=(SUM_from_i=1_to_n [(Usedi,j/Granti,j))/n]; IF_any_i [UNSIGNED(UsedAveragej−Usedi,j/Granti,j) > 0.1]; { FOR_all_I [TGranti,j+1:=TotalGranti,j+1*Granti,j/TotalGrantj]; FOR_all_I [Granti,j+1:= (1 + (Usedi,j/Granti,j UsedAveragej))*TGranti,j+1]; }

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